Editing Suez Canal (section)

=== Second millennium BC ===
[[James Henry Breasted]] attributes the earliest-known attempt to construct a canal to the [[Cataracts of the Nile|first cataract]], near Aswan, to the [[Sixth Dynasty of Egypt]] and its completion to [[Senusret III]] (1878–1839 BCE) of the [[Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt]].<ref name="Breasted">J. H. Breasted, ''[[Ancient Records of Egypt]]'', 1906. Volume One, pp. 290–292, §§642–648. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.</ref>

The legendary [[Sesostris]] (likely either [[Pharaoh]] [[Senusret II]] or Senusret III of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt<ref name="Sesostris"/><ref name="Breasted"/>) may have constructed the ancient canal, the [[Canal of the Pharaohs]], joining the Nile with the [[Red Sea]] (1897–1839 BCE), when an irrigation channel was constructed around 1848 BCE that was navigable during the [[Flooding of the Nile|flood season]], leading into a dry river valley east of the [[Nile River Delta]] named [[Wadi Tumilat]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Fisher|first1=William B.|last2=Smith|first2=Charles Gordon|title=Suez Canal|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Suez-Canal|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica|access-date=24 May 2017|date=|archive-date=19 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161119120534/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Suez-Canal|url-status=live}}</ref> (In [[ancient times]], the Red Sea may have reached northward to the [[Bitter Lakes]]<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Rappoport"/> and [[Lake Timsah]]).<ref name="Columbia">''[[The Columbia Encyclopedia]]'', Sixth Edition, s.v. [http://www.bartleby.com/65/su/SuezCana.html "Suez Canal"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090214112620/http://www.bartleby.com/65/su/SuezCana.html |date=14 February 2009 }}. Retrieved 14 May 2008.</ref><ref name="Naville">[[Édouard Naville|Naville, Édouard]]. "Map of the Wadi Tumilat" (plate image), in ''The Store-City of Pithom and the Route of the Exodus'' (1885). London: Trubner and Company.</ref>

In his ''[[Meteorology (Aristotle)|Meteorology]]'', [[Aristotle]] (384–322 BC) wrote:
<blockquote>One of their kings tried to make a canal to it (for it would have been of no little advantage to them for the whole region to have become navigable; Sesostris is said to have been the first of the ancient kings to try), but he found that the sea was higher than the land. So he first, and [[Darius the Great|Darius]] afterwards, stopped making the canal, lest the sea should mix with the river water and spoil it.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/a/aristotle/meteorology/book1.html |title='''Meteorology''' (1.15) |publisher=Ebooks.adelaide.edu.au |date=25 August 2010 |access-date=24 August 2011 |archive-date=11 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181011014050/https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/a/aristotle/meteorology/book1.html |url-status=dead }}</ref></blockquote>

[[Strabo]] wrote that Sesostris started to build a canal, and [[Pliny the Elder]] (23/24–79 AD) wrote:

<blockquote>165. Next comes the [[Tyro]] tribe and, the harbour of the [[Daneoi]], from which Sesostris, king of Egypt, intended to carry a ship-canal to where the Nile flows into what is known as the Delta; this is a distance of over {{convert|60|mi|sigfig=1}}. Later the Persian king Darius had the same idea, and yet again [[Ptolemy II]], who made a trench {{convert|100|ft|sigfig=1}} wide, {{convert|30|ft|sigfig=1}} deep and about {{convert|35|mi|round=5}} long, as far as the Bitter Lakes.<ref>The Elder Pliny and John Healey ''Natural History'' (6.33.165) Penguin Classics; Reprint edition (5 February 2004) {{ISBN|978-0-14-044413-1}} p.&nbsp;70 [https://books.google.com/books?id=JvyF-8NXFbIC&dq=Pliny+the+elder+sesostris+canal&pg=PA70 books.google.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424135241/https://books.google.com/books?id=JvyF-8NXFbIC&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=Pliny+the+elder+sesostris+canal&source=bl&ots=t1np0DY4S3&sig=i0wzXRGizdz6DK8e6CTGA1wFcoI&hl=en&ei=BieVSv3GE-PKjAfU-OnnDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7 |date=24 April 2016 }}</ref></blockquote>
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In the 20th century, the northward extension of the later Darius I canal was discovered, extending from Lake Timsah to the Ballah Lakes.<ref name="WShea">Shea, William H. "A Date for the Recently Discovered Eastern Canal of Egypt", in ''Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research'', No. 226 (April 1977), pp.&nbsp;31–38.</ref> This was dated to the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt]] by extrapolating the dates of ancient sites along its course.<ref name="WShea"/>

The reliefs of the [[Land of Punt|Punt]] expedition under [[Hatshepsut]], 1470 BCE, depict seagoing vessels carrying the expeditionary force returning from Punt. This suggests that a navigable link existed between the Red Sea and the Nile.<ref>Sanford (1938), p.&nbsp;72; Garrison (1999), p.&nbsp;36.</ref> Recent [[Wadi Gawasis|excavations in Wadi Gawasis]] may indicate that Egypt's maritime trade started from the Red Sea and did not require a canal.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}} Evidence seems to indicate its existence by the 13th century BCE during the time of [[Ramesses II]].<ref name="Britannica"/><ref>Hess, Richard S. Rev. of [http://www.denverseminary.edu/dj/articles1998/0100/0114.php ''Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050429084022/http://www.denverseminary.edu/dj/articles1998/0100/0114.php |date=29 April 2005 }}, by James K. Hoffmeier. ''The Denver Journal'' 1 (1 January 1998). Retrieved 14 May 2008.</ref><ref>Hassan, Fekri A. [http://www.e-c-h-o.org/khd/location.html Kafr Hassan Dawood On-line] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100115044418/http://www.e-c-h-o.org/khd/location.html |date=15 January 2010 }}, 17 August 2003. Retrieved 14 May 2008.</ref><ref>{{in lang|es}} Martínez Babon, Javier. [http://www.realidade.com.br/rih2/egipto.htm "Consideraciones sobre la Marinay la Guerra durante el Egipto Faraónico"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201143132/http://www.realidade.com.br/rih2/egipto.htm |date=1 February 2012 }}. Retrieved 14 May 2008.</ref>